everybody.
Um, it is 5:30 and uh, with that
Commissioner Watson asked to be excused
this evening. So we will go ahead and
get started with the agenda.
Work session's open and it's yours.
>> Sure. Thank you commission.
» Sure. Thank you commission.
I'd like to take a minute and introduce
Chris Chardella, our city engineer.
He's helped on the He's been the project
manager on this project and then
our consultants PEC
Kristen Zimmerman
with PEC and then Suzanne Loomis also
with PEC.
So I'm going to let
PEC kind of
just take it over take over the reins
from here and then if there's questions
as we go along then
we can stop or we can wait till the end.
Whatever works best for PEC.
» Okay.
>> stop us if they have questions?
» stop us if they have questions?
>> Yes. Yes. Yes. Please please stop us if
» Yes. Yes. Yes. Please please stop us if
you have questions.
Okay, well very good. Well good evening
Mr. Mayor and commissioners. Appreciate
you um inviting us out for an update
today. Want to thank Chris for being a
great project manager and then Ed for
inviting us out for an update today. So
um Suzanne and I are here for
just to sort of provide an update on
where we're at with the Safe Streets for
All or the Transportation Safety Action
Plan.
Again, my name is Kristen Zimmerman. I
am the project manager for this. I am a
transportation planner by trade and also
the team lead for
PEC's planning and GIS group.
Suzanne, you want to introduce yourself?
>> Yeah, Suzanne Loomis. We've met before.
» Yeah, Suzanne Loomis. We've met before.
>> [laughter]
» [laughter]
>> Yeah, I'm a project manager on the
» Yeah, I'm a project manager on the
market side at PEC and so I get involved
in all types of projects, transportation
being one of those because of my um
varied background from working in a
municipality. So, we've got a lot of
stuff to cover with you tonight. So,
bear with us and we'll give you an
update where we've been and where we're
headed. So, okay. Well, sounds good.
>> I think probably most of you are
» I think probably most of you are
familiar with PEC or Professional
Engineering Consultants. This is just a
a brief introduction to our company. So,
we're headquartered down in Wichita.
We're proud to be really one of the only
full-service engineering firms
headquartered in South Central Kansas.
Um
you can see there we have about 400
employees and several satellite offices
across the region. So, we are
um very very diverse in our expertise.
Now, let's get to this particular
project. So, the Safe Streets for all
um
initiative is a relatively new
initiative that's been rolled out by our
federal government. Um
this is a new program that's providing
funding for both planning and capital
projects to local governments all across
our country.
Um the goal is um from the federal
perspective is to reduce fatalities and
serious injuries that are happening on
our public transportation network. So,
whether that be highways, local streets,
township roads,
um
uh sidewalks and parks. Really looking
at the entirety of the network to reduce
fatalities and serious injuries, which
you can think of as
um an injury that happens on the
transportation network that causes you
to a life-threatening injury that causes
you to need to take an ambulance to the
hospital. That's that's what a serious
injury is. So, from the federal
perspective, that's the goal is to
reduce these all across the United
States on the entirety of the the public
transportation network. Again, whether
that be owned by the state DOT or KDOT
in our case or uh a township uh gravel
road, a township road. Really looking at
the entirety of the network and really
looking at the entirety of all users of
that network. So, whether you drive a
passenger car and you're running errands
or you drive a semi truck as your job or
you drive a farm implement or maybe
you're walking or bicycling or in a
wheelchair, it's really trying to look
at the entirety of the users across the
entirety of the network to reduce these
fatalities and serious injuries.
And I will say from the local
perspective, it's really an opportunity
to reevaluate your particular roadway
street network. Um you know, a lot of
our streets across our country and in
Newton were put in decades ago and have
worked very well to support um the land
uses and the the neighborhoods and
commercial areas during that time. Have
really worked well. Um but as we know,
cities change, counties change,
neighborhoods change, commercial areas
change and so it's really an opportunity
to kind of re- reevaluate your system
and say, is our network working for us
the way we need it to now and and in the
future? Um you know, one thing in
particular we've definitely noticed here
in Newton in particular is there's a lot
of demand for uh pedestrian and
bicycling facilities uh on a network
that isn't really designed for that. So,
that's that's one change that's that's
been for sure prevalent in this project.
>> Kristen, the other thing we ought to
» Kristen, the other thing we ought to
mention that maybe you have it on your
list, but this project isn't just a
Newton project. It is a Harvey County
and Newton combined. Um when you applied
for the grant, it was a partnership for
the grant and so uh we've been working
with the county as well. So, when
Kristen keeps mentioning, you know, uh
gravel roads, dirt roads, it's because
we also were looking at the county's um
transportation network as well.
>> Yes, thank you, Suzanne. Yes, and
» Yes, thank you, Suzanne. Yes, and
um you know, we wanted to look at this
from the beginning from a holistic
perspective, you know, from looking at
the the highway network. Um but you'll
see as we move through this that um,
we're moving toward having sort of two
separate plans. One will be for the city
of Newton and specifically for for your
network and then one will be more for
Harvey County um, and we're looking at
the the unincorporated parts of of the
county.
Okay, and I I guess lastly and you'll
see there on that second paragraph this
this project was made possible by a
grant that the city of Newton received
last probably two or three years ago at
this point. It took a long time long
time
>> [laughter and gasps]
» [laughter and gasps]
>> to uh, to get to get the agreement in
» to uh, to get to get the agreement in
place. So, um, that that's what has made
this possible. So, this has come at
really no cost uh, to either the city of
Newton or Harvey County because the
state of Kansas uh, paid the match and
there's a federal grant.
So, I did want to cover just kind of the
approach that um, this is the approach
that we've taken to um,
attack this problem. It's called the
safe system approach. Um, this is a
relatively new approach when we're
thinking about safety. I do have some
handouts here that um, I'm happy to pass
around or um, if you're interested in
this.
Um,
you know, a lot of us might be familiar
with a more technical approach of of
safety. You know, maybe something like
um,
uh, we you know, we have a goal of
eliminating all crashes. Well, that's
not necessarily the goal on the safe
systems approach. It's a people focused
approach and what we're really looking
at is these key principles here of um,
you know, saying that death or serious
injury is unacceptable on our system.
You know, that's one key principle of
this. Number two, humans make mistakes.
Um, that you know, we ought to maybe
just accept that happens instead of you
know, constantly trying to fight that.
Uh, number three, humans are vulnerable.
Same same relatively same principle
there. Responsibility is shared. Uh you
know, the safety on the network is
shared between individual drivers, you
know, the decisions that we all make
when we get into our cars. Are Are we
going to put on our seatbelt? Are we
going to drive intoxicated? Are we going
to drive the speed limit? These are
decisions that we all make individually.
Um as well as our car manufacturers have
a share in the responsibility, our
vehicle manufacturers. Um as well as um
you know, cities like city of Newton in
terms of providing the network that that
we use. So, this whole concept of of
responsibility is shared is a is a big
deal in this in this approach.
>> I have a question.
» I have a question.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> Um
» Um
pedestrians have a responsibility as
well.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
They do.
>> Is that really part of this? The
» Is that really part of this? The
education side for
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> Yes. We will We will get to that, but
» Yes. We will We will get to that, but
yes, exactly. And I'm glad you brought
that up. Yes, all users. So, whether
you're a pedestrian or bicyclist or
driver or truck driver implement driver
we all have a responsibility to to know
the rules of the road and follow the the
traffic laws.
And then the last one is redundancy is
critical. So, this is a just um
you know, this is just some background,
I guess, to to provide sort of a
perspective of the approach we took when
looking at this. And you'll especially
see it um when we get to um some of the
concepts and some of the
um the the recommendations, you know,
really targeting these fatal and serious
injuries. And and preventing preventing
them from happening is is really a a
focus here.
Okay, so uh how did we go about doing
this this study? Um well, it is kind of
to boil it down, we we kind of had three
steps. You know, number one, what and
where are the problems? You know, we
need to kind of understand what where
are the what and where are the problems?
Uh number two, what and where are the
priority problems? And number three,
what are the preferred solutions? So,
hopefully a fairly straightforward kind
of rational approach you might take to
to any kind of problem. Um, and you can
see we're in this last step now. Here's
a little bit more detailed view of the
process we've taken. So, we chose two
ways or kind of two methods, two avenues
of of answering the questions what and
where are the problems. Uh, we took a a
technical analysis where we were looking
at uh, crash data of crashes that have
happened on the network. That was data
provided by the Kansas Department of
Transportation as reported by uh, the
Newton City Police and the Harvey County
Sheriff's Office.
Um, and then we also took um, and also
looked at other technical data, looked
at volumes, had engineering assessments.
Um, that that was really the heart of
the the technical approach. Um, and then
you can see there we had a community
engagement approach. So, a big part of
this
Safe Streets for All program is
involving the community, having it be
community-driven, having it be um, not
just a technical study. Um, beca- again,
some of it is to
um, you know, sort of get input, but
also some of it is to be able to
reiterate this notion that it is a
shared responsibility for of all of us
to to have a safe network.
So, we went through and essentially
evaluated those. We were able to sort of
define the major problems um, from each
one separately and then we narrowed
those down to what are the major ones we
want to focus on, both the locations and
some behavior uh, or road condition
problems.
And then now we're in this what are what
are the preferred solutions? Um,
so you'll see a little bit later we've
got some capital concepts as well as
non-capital recommendations, things like
the mayor had mentioned, education
campaigns or um, enforcement enforcement
options.
So, and then you'll see for the rest of
the project, we've got we're coming up
on our next round of community
engagement. That's one of the main
reasons we want to come here and visit
with you tonight um to make sure that uh
you get to see these before they roll
out um and you're prepared if your
constituents are asking questions about
that.
Uh then we'll go through the final
vetting, final recommendations, and of
course have our final documents that
should all wrap up early next year.
Uh so, like I mentioned, really the goal
for the presentation today is really to
sort of brief you on on what what's been
happening with this project, the work
done to date. Uh number two, prepare you
for this community engagement round two,
um and and define next steps. So, we
will be um out in the community over the
next couple weeks, 2-3 weeks, I guess,
and just wanted to make sure you all had
a chance to see this before it sort of
rolled out publicly.
So, uh I'm going to go through this
technical technical analysis summary, as
well as our community engagement.
So, the crash analysis is really the
heart of the technical analysis. Um I
just put some statistics up there just
to share some of this with you, so you
can see over the last 5 years um for the
entirety um or for the the city of
Newton area, we there was 32 fatalities
and 56 serious injury crashes uh that
took place on the public network. Um and
then um you can see some of those
statistics really that bottom one was,
you know, 63% of all crashes are
occurring on local roads and 37% on the
highways. And again, that's all crashes.
Uh so, KDOT does a really good job of
providing this that the data's very
detailed. Um in general, it's sort of
divided into uh fatal crashes, injury
crashes, and property damage only. So,
that you can think of that as like maybe
you backed into a tree in your yard or
you had a fender bender with the person
in front of you.
>> Does Denise have a copy of this
» Does Denise have a copy of this
presentation she can send out to us?
>> Mhm. Yes. And we have a lot more data
» Mhm. Yes. And we have a lot more data
that we're happy to share. Um I've sort
of just weaned the the most important
things for tonight, but we're happy to
to share more information if you'd like
to dive into this a little bit more.
>> The other thing to remember is when we
» The other thing to remember is when we
started this process, we were just into
um 2025 and so the data that was
available was that 5-year period from
2020 to 2024. So if don't go, "Why are
you using old data?" Well, that was the
data that was available at the time.
>> Yes, and the 5 years is an industry
» Yes, and the 5 years is an industry
standard of looking at crash data to get
uh it's it's sort of a representative
trend.
So we took that. Um we got some of this
basic information. We
put that into what we call a high injury
network.
Um
and I'm sort of summarizing a lot of
this to to get to this end product. Um
so
Yeah, I skipped I skipped those cuz they
were real detailed. So we we have more
information in the PowerPoint if we want
to see some more detail, but um
essentially we were looking at the
spatial distribution of crashes as well
as the
type of crashes and the contributing
circumstances that led to the crashes.
Um as well as an engineering assessment
of each location where a crash happened
and sort of compare that with the
volumes that were taking place or the
amount of car traffic volumes that were
on these roadways.
So here were the from the technical
perspective, sort of the major issues
here in Newton.
Um really focused on the intersections
at the local streets. Um there's
definitely a disproportionate risk to
pedestrians and bicyclists
um
in terms of sort of
um serious injuries and fatalities as
compared to their representation in the
system, their activity in the system.
um
The behavioral factors multiply the
severity. We've listed those there. Um
distraction, speed, alcohol, and drugs.
Um you know, for example, if a crash
were to happen let's say a property
damage only crash were to happen when
when these fourth other things get
involved, the severity of course
increases.
um
Number four, urban context increases the
risk.
That is just sort of an um I'm going to
say unfortunate reality that cities have
a lot more activity, a lot more conflict
points. There's more intersection,
there's more volumes, there's more
traffic, there's more people.
Um and in any kind of situation when you
have more of something
the risk is going to increase. So,
that's just the truth um for any sort of
urban setting. And then you can see the
last thing there are the locations. So,
these these primarily came out of our
crash analysis. So, um I-135 uh through
the city limits, um 12th Street, really
that uh corridor south of the high
school
um Grandview, which is uh just uh east
of the high school
the Main and 12th Street intersection
Main Street from all the way up at north
city limits down to first, uh Washington
sort of continuing that uh where it
starts, and then Anderson Avenue north
of 12th also over by the high school,
and then Kansas from first to US-50. So,
those were sort of our top two tiers
um of locations coming out of the
technical perspective.
Before I shift on to the community
engagement perspective, any questions or
questions to date?
>> that 2022 looked like the numbers were
» that 2022 looked like the numbers were
the highest in 2022, and then they
dropped off.
Is there
» I just wondered what was happening at
that time.
>> I don't know. Drive to zero.
» I don't know. Drive to zero.
>> Nothing immediately comes to mind.
» Nothing immediately comes to mind.
Suzanne has a possible theory.
>> Yeah, I I don't recall the the year that
» Yeah, I I don't recall the the year that
KDOT kicked off their Drive to Zero
um campaign. It may have been in there,
which so you start seeing more about it.
You start thinking more drive safe, more
enforcement, those kind of things. I'm
not sure the year that it started. It
could line up with that.
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> The following year.
» The following year.
>> the Newton part, not the unincorporated
» the Newton part, not the unincorporated
part. The Newton part, I noticed that
2022 those numbers seem to be higher.
>> Yes, I'm happy to take that back to our
» Yes, I'm happy to take that back to our
team and see if we can get a
>> I just couldn't recall anything that was
» I just couldn't recall anything that was
going on at that time, but just it's
just interesting to see that why then?
>> Right.
» Right.
>> was happening in the community then? Was
» was happening in the community then? Was
there a lot of issues with streets? Were
we working on streets at that time?
>> like a lot of construction.
» like a lot of construction.
>> driving cuz it was post-COVID. They were
» driving cuz it was post-COVID. They were
going back to work.
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> Could be any number of things.
» Could be any number of things.
>> Okay.
» Okay, anything else on the technical
part or
kind of the study introduction? Okay.
Okay. Um here's the same information for
the the unincorporated part of the of
Harvey County. So, the major takeaways
from the technical perspective, um
roadway departure and loss of control
crashes,
um speed and high energy crash
environment. You can imagine there's
higher speeds out in the county. Um one
surprising thing was uh lack of occupant
protection. Um I think our numbers
coming in for the county in terms of not
wearing a seatbelt or or lack of
occupant protection was maybe um
significantly under the statewide
average and under uh the county average.
So, or the statewide average and the
national average. So, that was a
surprising thing that came out of this.
Um there's some behavioral factors. Um
intersection crashes less frequent than
Newton, but likely to be fatal. And then
we had locations uh pulled out for the
unincorporated part of the county as
well.
Okay, let's move on to the the second
perspective was community engagement.
So, our round one engagement was really
um where we were asking folks about
their use of the network. We asked folks
about their um you know, the heart of
this was asking, you know, where where
is the network safe and where is it
unsafe? That was really the heart of
this. You can see some of our numbers
there um in terms of having open houses,
stakeholder sessions. We had surveys, um
some comments, individual comments came
in over five right around 500.
Um so, in addition to the general
public, we also had these stakeholder
groups where we were targeting people
that had um expert knowledge in safety.
So, you can see we um really had a
really great group with the first
responders here in the area. That's from
our picture.
Um so, we really targeted either folks
with expertise, so the first responders
or our public works groups, or groups
that were especially impacted by how the
transportation system functions and or
had some sort of stake in it. Uh so, you
can see the range there, everything from
civic groups to teenagers to uh public
and private schools. So, really trying
to be diverse and representative and go
to them and and in these groups we had
invitation-only uh small group sessions
with representatives from all of these.
So, really try to get their their
knowledge and and uh input as well as
from the general public.
>> That was our both both fellows civic
» That was our both both fellows civic
group with that that group in the group.
>> [laughter]
» [laughter]
>> Yes.
» Yes.
The emergency services version.
Uh this was just some stats on our
public open houses. We had five in total
uh counting our virtual one.
And really the main issues that came out
of these uh community engagement
sessions was um in terms of behaviors, a
lot of concern about speeding,
aggressive driving, and non-compliance
with traffic laws. You can see about a
third of sort of votes were concerned
about that, distracted driving just
right around there also at 30%. Uh
roadway conditions, sort of the top vote
getter was, you know, adding pedestrian
infrastructure.
Uh and then the locations that came out
of this, you can see perceived as safe
um
was sort of Main Street um as well as
the Sand Creek bike path,
which is a little bit contradictory
because it was an interesting finding.
It was sort of perceived as safe, but
through our technical analysis, it was
it was rated as um
a higher crash corridor. So, that was
sort of a a a uh interesting difference.
And then you can see the locations
perceived as unsafe. A lot of these were
well uh that first one was the same as
what we got out of our technical
assessment. Um
uh the the
the community input also added US 50,
uh East First Street east of the
Interstate, and then the south
interchange of I-135 and US 50.
So, and again, sort of a similar uh com-
comments on the bike ped features, you
know, safe is when there's dedicated
features, unsafe, you know, when there's
activity in a system that's designed for
vehicles.
>> and bicycles.
» and bicycles.
>> [clears throat]
» Okay, so through both of kind kind
combining this technical and um
community engagement, we kind of came
out with these what we called major
problems. Um for this one's for Newton
and we have have a a similar one for
unincorporated Harvey County. Uh so you
can see here we've got sort of two sets
of locations.
Um and then we um also added some
behaviors there.
And um kind of a focus on pedestrian
bicycle activity and then intersections,
especially the stop stop controlled
ones.
Okay, and then for Harvey County, we
have a similar um similar list here. So
you can see here the for the specific
locations uh
the the state system had a lot of uh
really came out on top and then local
system, we had some local local roads,
county roads listed there as well as
some sort of behaviors and sis-
system-wide things to focus on. Uh for
example, low seatbelt usage, you know,
is kind of a system-wide uh
thing.
So from
those two data sets together, we took
the technical data, um took the
stakeholder input. And I had to Suzanne
and I worked on this presentation
together, put together. I just had a
laugh. She's the engineer and I'm a
planner.
And I I just had to chuckle a little bit
cuz she put in this equation
uh in the PowerPoint. So we have a we
have a math equation there of the
technical data plus the stakeholder
input um community engagement from the
general public, plus we want really
wanted to focus on those things that
your local jurisdiction sort of has
control over or can control. Uh we
wanted to really focus on that, right?
We don't necessarily want to have a a
KDOT a highway project in here for a a
recommendation
for the city to take on, something like
that. But, when things rise to the top
that are on the state network, we will
be discussing that with KDOT staff. So,
it won't go Yes, it won't just be thrown
aside and nobody talk about it. We will
be taking it back to them cuz we've
already met with those folks once.
So, we've got two sets of, I guess, what
we're you might call recommendations.
So, one thing is called countermeasures
and the other one is concepts. So, I'm
going to cover the countermeasures and
then Suzanne is going to cover the
specific concepts at specific locations.
So, countermeasures,
what are countermeasures?
Um,
really this is just sort of a fancy term
that means
some sort of action or thing you do that
reduces the frequency or severity of
crashes,
especially fatal or severe fatal or
serious injury ones.
Um, really on a systematic level. So,
you might think of maybe like an
education campaign about
seatbelt usage. That's sort of targeted
to all users.
It's not necessarily at a specific
location. Or you might think of sort of
a capital project like, for example,
rumble strips. Let's this would maybe be
more appropriate for the a county and
unincorporated roadway. Let's think of
rumble strips. You know, that's
something that could go across the
entirety of the network at a relatively
low cost. Um, so that's really what
these countermeasures are intended to
have a a big bang for your money. You
know, a relatively low cost um, of
something an application that can be
applied across the entirety of the
network. So, that's really what we're
meaning when we say countermeasures.
So, we've um,
worked with um
the staff and have come up with
countermeasures for all these different
categories of things.
And I'm going to go just give a few
examples so you can kind of get a sense
here.
So, for example, roadway and lane
departures. Um this is something that is
a uh one of the things that rose to the
surface in the county, the
unincorporated county areas.
Um and so for a capital option, like I
mentioned, you could do rumble strips
along the center line and rumble strips
on the edge, on the the edge of pavement
line. And really the goal here is it uh
alerts drivers from drifting out of the
lane.
Um probably many of us have ridden have
experienced these rumble strips.
Um and these have been proven to reduce
fatal and serious injury crashes
anywhere from you can see 36% to 44%
kind of depending on the environment
that it's in. So, that's a a pretty big
bang in terms of a uh
reducing crashes for a relatively low
cost, right? You're not going in and
tearing up the roadway or reconfiguring
the whole intersection.
Um and then here's an example of a
programmatic activity is uh you could
maybe add a line item or a budget for a
road safety audit program in your annual
CIP or your annual street maintenance
budget. And that would say you would
say, "Hey, we're going to do
uh five road safety audits every year."
You know, you would set the number and
you would say, "We're going to really
focus on going to specific locations,
specific intersections, or we're going
to pick three, we're going to pick
five." Whatever your number is, we're
going to pick that many and we're going
to go out and we're going to do a road
safety audit and we're going to really
dive in and see what is going on at that
particular location safety-wise.
>> And there's multiple capital options to
» And there's multiple capital options to
treat this contributing factor and
multiple programmatic activities. We're
just trying to give you some examples
just quickly. We didn't want you to have
to be here all night.
>> Yes.
Um here's another one for pedestrian
bicycle. So, if they're if there's a um
a location where pedestrians and
bicyclists are that
um we've got a a capital option there of
these crossing improvements. You've
maybe have seen these crossing lights or
high-visibility crosswalks.
Uh again, lots of options. Um and then
here's a couple programmatic activities
of you know, maybe um looking at uh some
sort of policy that covers sort of the
responsibility of users as well as kind
of the city's approach to, you know, how
do you want to account for them as
you're building and maintaining your
roadway network.
Um or here's another option is, you
know, to partner with the school
district or health department. And I
know a lot of that's already happening
now to do classes and have education on,
you know, how to bike or walk um use
under traffic laws.
» Some of that may already be going on
now, but think about the fact that we're
trying to put together a traffic safety
plan for you. This is This is a plan for
the city to use moving forward. And then
that plan gets referenced when you start
applying for grants. And so, we're
trying to match up those factors with
some things that you can do that are low
cost and put that in your plan and then
be able to reference that when you're
applying for grants.
>> Yes, I probably should have said that at
» Yes, I probably should have said that at
the very beginning. That was really the
the reason for doing this whole plan is
it was a requirement to have this plan
done in order to
um capture be able to even apply for a
capital grant through this program. So,
probably should have said that at the
beginning. I always kind of make a joke,
we have to go through this dumb plan to
get the project we want to do.
>> [laughter]
» [laughter]
>> So, we'll go through this exercise. So,
» So, we'll go through this exercise. So,
last example here was uh occupant
protection. You might remember uh this
is one
um
surprising thing we sort of learned
through this, especially in the
unincorporated part of the county. Um
so, here's a couple capital options
about just really adding a sign um or
having stations to uh inspect, you know,
child protection seats uh
uh car seats, you might know them as,
or programmatic activities. KDOT has
several uh programs um for um
you know, how to support um inspecting
um how car seats are installed. So,
taking advantage of programs that other
groups, you know, other um governments
or other groups are already doing. Sort
of promoting those or taking advantage
of them.
So, now I'm going to turn it over to
Suzanne, and she's going to talk a
little bit about the um concepts that
we're developed. I will say that um so,
as part of this uh part of our scope to
effort, um we were scoped to develop uh
five separate concepts for it for shared
over both the city and the county. Um
and the idea of developing these
concepts is is that these, you know,
whichever one is kind of selected or
rise to the top, um could be one could
be applied for by the city, and then one
could be applied for by the county to
get this capital grant that's coming out
of this. So, keep that in mind, and um
I'll I'll turn over to Suzanne.
>> Okay. So, the other thing I want you to
» Okay. So, the other thing I want you to
keep in mind as we look at the concepts,
be open-minded. Um these are not
recommendations.
>> bad if she's already giving you a
» bad if she's already giving you a
disclaimer. Okay.
>> giving the disclaimer. Be open-minded
» giving the disclaimer. Be open-minded
about these. These are not
recommendations.
These are element We are putting forward
some concepts that have multiple
elements for the public to see, discuss,
because remember we're taking this to
the public forum, and going to get input
from the public. And the items that were
chosen were chosen based on all of the
technical information, and then the
public input that was put together. And
so, we're trying to address the things
that we think will hit um the ability to
decrease those fatalities and the severe
accidents.
>> And prevent others from happening.
» And prevent others from happening.
>> Yes. Um so,
» Yes. Um so,
>> I might I might add, it's safety driven.
» I might I might add, it's safety driven.
>> Safety. These things are about safety.
» Safety. These things are about safety.
It doesn't always look at is this best
for um you know, the business that sits
right here, or for the homeowner that
sits right here.
It's looking at the safety on the
transportation network. So, okay,
there's my qualifiers. We'll roll on,
okay?
So, the first one um we're at 12th
Street, and this is up by the high
school, so we're going from Boyd over to
Plum. And all of these concepts, these
are drafts. These are not final plans,
okay?
And the city has looked at this location
on multiple occasions, right? Because
there's been lots of comment, not just
during this
um community engagement process, but in
the past, there's been a lot of people
that have talked about this location.
So, several of the elements that are
being looked at
>> And the technical data supports it. It
» And the technical data supports it. It
was really in the top tier.
>> Absolutely, it was in the top tier. So,
» Absolutely, it was in the top tier. So,
several of the items I'm going to point
out to you, we've got all of them on
here. You could implement all of them,
or we could implement one of them, or
you may say, "Nah, we're not interested
in this." And you want to get public
input before you make those decisions,
right?
So, one of the items that is looked at
along the south side of 12th Street is a
bike lane. This is a bike lane that
would be going eastbound only.
Okay?
And then, there is an option And in
order to put that in,
and in order to look at this protected
left-hand turn that's running down the
middle of 12th Street. And remember,
we're going from Boyd, it goes Boyd this
direction, and then it picks up and
we're going all the way over here, okay?
Here Here's Grandview. We'll We'll end
up farther down, but this is the
application for this area.
We also would be looking at a protected
left-hand turn all the way up to Here's
Grandview as it goes to the south.
And in order to do that, right now
you've got four lanes there.
So, this would shrink it down to that
three lane. In order to get a bike lane
on there and have that protected
left-hand turn all the way along.
Um
what this does, the reason that we look
at this location, this was a high
accident location.
And there's a lot of traffic. There's a
lot of young drivers. There's a lot of
pedestrians that cross here. Remember,
we've talked about that in the past at
the city level that are going back and
forth across 12th Street. Um the green
that you see on here, this is bike
crossings. It's bike and ped going north
and south. It's bike only going to the
east and west.
The other application that is added here
is some additional signage that goes
along with a 10-ft multi-use path on the
north side.
So, you'd be coming from Boyd and you
could take it as far as Berry or you
could take it all the way to Main
Street, but that is an application that
would be considered.
Um
and currently we're not showing any
changes to the exit here um out of the
parking lot for the high school. It's
something that could be discussed later
if this was selected. And then the other
thing to point out is there's another
element that is a protected right turn
lane into the school.
If you were westbound on 12th Street and
going to be turning in here because
often you will see vehicles backing up
along here. And if we're going to shrink
it down to only one lane in each
direction, maybe we need to stack some
vehicles in there. And And the traffic
counts would show that.
Okay?
So, that's that's one element to
consider or one multiple elements
one design option there.
Then we go farther to the east, okay?
So, we are going from Anderson. Here's
Anderson.
And then going all the way down all the
way down over to here's Plum and then
you get right over here and here's San
Creek.
So, it doesn't show on the picture, but
just to put it in your mind where we're
at. And in this location, um
there were a lot of comments that we
received during the community
engagement, plus there had been some
accidents throughout this area, but a
lot of comments that people are confused
because 12th Street is split. And so,
when you come out in one area, if you're
doing a cross one of these cross streets
or you're on one of the ends, sometimes
people don't know which direction they
need to be going and they may end up
going the wrong way. They may be going
eastbound when they should be going
westbound. And so, some of the things
that were suggested here was definitely
um having some improved signage. And you
can see there's multiple locations where
we're showing different signs that would
be added in. And eliminating
uh closing some of these crossings. So,
at Elm, there would is a recommended
closure. And then at Vine, there is a
recommended closure.
Which just means that somebody may have
to turn and then come back to get to
where they needed to be, but there are
multiple crossings here and maybe you
don't need so many and that would make
it be less confusing for the driving
public.
>> And from a safety perspective, um you
» And from a safety perspective, um you
know, we
it's sort of balancing access with
with um and so, just closing off one
uh entry point reduces a conflict point.
You know, that's really the the point
there. So, you know, if you think about
uh
having conflicts with people, you know,
if you take one person out of the
situation, sometimes the the conflict
will go down. So, that's that's sort of
how I think about on these conflict
points, if you can reduce one or reduce
a meaningful one, it can really help
kind of the overall
opportunity for crash to happen.
Okay?
All right, we'll go to the next.
Next is Main Street. And we're going to
do this in pieces, okay? So, the first
one is the BNSF tracks to 8th Street.
Now, there's multiple concepts here.
So, bear with me. Here is concept design
one.
Um you notice all these little bulb outs
um at the intersections. And this has
been talked about off and on before. Uh
but the purpose of this, because again,
lots of lots of crashes that occur along
Main Street in this area, and
pedestrians. And for years, the city has
received comments about it's difficult
for a pedestrian to be able to cross the
street. Okay? And so, what this does is
it extends that sidewalk out a bit.
And it does multiple things. It gives
them less distance to have to cross when
they're crossing.
So, that's a pro for your pedestrian,
right? That's on the pro side, not the
con side. It also puts them a little bit
farther out into
um Main Street, because like right in
this area, there's parked cars. And when
you're clear back here at the curb, can
you guys see my cursor? I'm looking at a
cur- Yeah, you can. Okay. So, when
you're when you're standing back on the
sidewalk, you can't see around those
parked cars, but if you can get out a
little bit farther, then you can see,
and your sight distance for the
pedestrian is better, and for the people
that are driving to see the pedestrian
is a little bit better. So, that helps
with that. Um and when you put in these
uh bulbs these bump outs at the
intersection, it is a traffic calming
device. So, the vehicles that are
traveling along Main Street, you see a
little bit of a neck down, and when
you're driving, you automatically go,
"Maybe I better slow down cuz it's more,
you know, like I'm threading the
needle." They wouldn't be super narrow,
but it does slow people down a bit,
which helps with
transportation safety, okay?
Um
Okay, so that's concept
design one.
Kind of option one. Option one for this
piece of Main Street.
There's a That's kind of a blown-up area
so you can see. It's It extends those
out to the opposite side of the parking,
the opposite the curb side.
Now,
I would be remiss if I didn't mention
that there are some cons to this, and
those cons come up when you start
looking at drainage, um because you've
got inlets at those intersections that
take on water, and so getting
a drainage to flow around that, there'll
be some tricks that have to have to
occur in the design, and uh street
maintenance staff, when they're clearing
snow,
you can't just blade right on down
straight through there. You're going to
be going around little curved bulb outs,
and that'll be an annoyance.
So, with everything, pros and cons,
right?
Mhm. Okay.
Now, here's
Here's concept design 2A. I know these
are little on the screen, but we've got
things color-coded for you. And for this
one, this adds a protected left turn.
Um this protected left turn, right now
you only have one, you know, right here
at 5th Street.
But this adds protected left turn all
the way down from BNSF tracks to 8th
Street.
Which
What that does for the driving public,
you can see that it's offset. So, let me
let me go to the bigger.
Just to look here. So, when you're at
8th Street, you see how the turn lane is
right here, and it's not in the very
middle of the road, it's offset.
And that allows the person that is going
to be making a left-hand turn that's in
the vehicle to be able to see the
oncoming traffic so that you aren't
turning and end up with a T
um accident.
So, in order to have enough width to
gain
space for that left-hand that protected
left-hand turn, there has to be
a give and a take here. And so,
in this option, design 2A, remember
we're looking at this from a
transportation safety, this is traffic
safety, what we're looking at. The west
side of Main Street, where we see the
purple,
would the parking would be eliminated.
There would be no parking
on that side in order to accommodate the
width for that protected turn down the
middle.
And when we get to the end here, I'll
tell you how many spaces it is that
you'd be losing, okay?
These are elements. You can pick and
choose elements throughout. It may not
be popular with everybody, but
>> smiles to you.
» smiles to you.
>> You You know
» You You know
>> getting some smiles.
» getting some smiles.
>> I know
» I know
>> I'm like, how do you choose which side
» I'm like, how do you choose which side
of the road?
>> Well, hang on a second.
» Well, hang on a second.
>> Just a second.
» Just a second.
>> Here we go. Let's Let's look at the
» Here we go. Let's Let's look at the
cross section, and then we'll move to
the next one. So, if you're looking at a
cross-sectional design, um you're
getting
you're you don't have any parking on the
left side, but you did gain a little bit
of sidewalk because that turn lane is
not quite as wide when you take away
parking, but you can't park half width
of a car. So, you gain that other. Give
them a chance. They will.
>> [laughter]
» [laughter]
>> Maybe. Except that it'll be up on the
» Maybe. Except that it'll be up on the
curb, so you gain a little bit over on
that side for a little bit wider
sidewalk. And I think you've been
hearing in some of your comp plan
discussions that people want to be able
to have more space downtown and more
sidewalk interaction and space to sit
and walk and congregate.
>> That was my filter, I mean, shut.
» That was my filter, I mean, shut.
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
Again, these are just elements, right?
Okay, so here's
a concept design 2B.
What this one does, same thing, you've
got your lane going down the middle,
you've still got your bulb outs, they're
on, but they're only on one side. I
didn't point that out on the last one.
They're only on one side because if you
don't have parking over here, um you
don't want to have your bulb out, or you
would have people driving into that bulb
out. Um this puts the no parking on the
east side. So, you see the purple, well,
that's the parking on the east side. So,
it's the same as it was in the last
option, it's just flipped.
There it is up close. Same as the other,
just the other side. Okay?
Looks the same in the cross section,
we've just flipped it over.
And there's
no parking then on the east side.
Okay?
All right, then concept design three.
This has This has your middle lane
for turn.
>> Both. Both. Both sides.
» Both. Both. Both sides.
>> Um
And
>> What's your phone number?
» What's your phone number?
>> Uh-oh.
» Uh-oh.
>> Suzanne, we're getting
» Suzanne, we're getting
>> Our traffic Our Our traffic engineers
» Our traffic Our Our traffic engineers
have brought this forward as something
to consider. The public has an
opportunity to comment. This is not a
recommendation. This is a concept, and
there are multiple elements here. You
may just want bull belts. You may want a
turn lane only in one block. You may
want which I would question that a
little bit, but it's something to
consider. You may decide there's one one
block that you don't need as much
parking.
We're just trying to show you the
elements of what you can do to help
eliminate these conflict points, make
the transportation network safer for the
walking, biking, and driving public.
Okay?
So, this shows no parking both sides.
And then you have definitely, you know,
how many times have you been driving
along and somebody opens their car door
and then maybe that causes an issue. So,
there's lots lots of things to consider
when you start looking at no parking in
a more
Um and Kristen may smack me when I say
this, but in a less less rural
community, you know, that you wouldn't
have parking necessarily downtown. It
would be maybe behind the businesses.
And then the places that you're going to
go in and sit and you might have more
tables out front along the sidewalk.
That's the
the thing that you're looking at within
your comp plan. I understand that has
been some of the things that have been
brought forward for you to consider.
Just to consider. These are just
options. Okay?
Um
Here's the up close. So, and the next
one is the one you really want to look
at. So, here's your cross section for
both east and west.
And so, you have sidewalk
and room for tables, room for people to
congregate, and then people can still
drive through. You can still get your
traffic through.
But you would be parking
behind instead of along the street.
Okay?
Okay. Let's move to the next section of
Main Street from the tracks south to
First Street.
Same applicant
>> slide.
» slide.
>> What?
» What?
>> You skipped the one that shows how many
» You skipped the one that shows how many
parking spaces we lost.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, you're right. I
» Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, you're right. I
did. I don't know what happened. Okay,
so here the this shows parking spaces
removed under each option. So 2A, when
you remove parking on the west side, it
gives you by block the number of parking
spaces that are eliminated. Total of 50.
Okay.
For 2B, if you move it remove it along
the east side, another total of 50,
right?
Um
the third one where there's no parking
on the east or the west, of course
you're totaling them and there's a
hundred. If you're looking at this map
and we didn't get this on here yet, um
but the colored dots, so if you're
looking at this later, the purple dots
um those are
the parking that's eliminated during
concept three. The green reflects
concept 2B and the blue concept 2A.
But the numbers tell the story, really.
It's just looking at the blocks and
where they'd be eliminated. Okay?
>> Susan, I might mention too that even if
» Susan, I might mention too that even if
we just did concept one with the bulb
outs, you lose a stall for each one of
the bulb outs.
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
In most of those locations you would
lose your full parking spot for those
bulb outs.
>> 50 sounds like a big number.
» 50 sounds like a big number.
>> Yes, it does.
» Yes, it does.
>> I'm afraid we might be run out of town
» I'm afraid we might be run out of town
for making this
>> You might be. But see, you're not making
» You might be. But see, you're not making
a decision. This is not a
recommendation. These are elements to
consider.
>> just removing parking spaces.
» just removing parking spaces.
>> Mhm.
» Mhm.
>> I mean, it's it's so tight anyway when
» I mean, it's it's so tight anyway when
you come downtown and people are looking
for spaces.
>> Mhm.
» Mhm.
>> Where do they go?
» Where do they go?
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> What would be the recommendation about
» What would be the recommendation about
where they would go? Around the block or
side streets or
>> Mhm.
» Mhm.
When you when you go to Walmart, you
have to park
several parking spaces away sometimes to
get in. This would be similar to that.
You'd park on a side street or behind
and go in a back door.
Now, you'll be glad to know that we are
taking
the similar presentation with these
concepts to the public and one of the
groups that we have invited all of them
Jen has we helped us and we have the
downtown group that we'll be speaking
with. We're doing a special
presentation for that group.
So, they'll be able to give all kinds of
comment very similar to how we did in
the original
um
community engagement round. So, the
purpose is to have people talk, but
remember
we would not be doing our job when
looking at this
transportation safety plan if we didn't
bring all the options forward. It's okay
that you are going to consider other
things when looking at them.
But, um
you could say, "Well, you know what? If
we don't have as many parking spaces
downtown, the people aren't going to
come downtown and we won't have to worry
about it cuz there'll be less traffic
and we won't but if we didn't provide
these things
then
somebody else is going to say, "Yeah,
but everybody keeps getting hit. How
come you aren't doing anything about
it?" So, we're just trying to find a
happy medium here. Okay?
All right. I have a couple questions.
Yes.
If we're talking broad concepts, is it
possible to think about rather than
going from four to five lanes with a
dedicated turn lane is there any
possibility to go to three lanes?
And
like one lane each way and a dedicated
middle.
Yes. There is, but the thing that you
have to remember and I think this will
become very evident
when you sit downtown in traffic and a
train goes by and then you remember uh
you've got to have the stacking length,
otherwise you're going to back people up
clear down south of First Street and
clear up to 12th Street. And because of
the train the train factor, um
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> I think that it is not good to consider.
» I think that it is not good to consider.
>> Our our team had thought about that
» Our our team had thought about that
because that notion of
reducing, you know, let's say you had
like a four-lane road, you know, two
lanes in each direction, you know,
reducing that to a three-lane with one
lane in each direction with a center
turn lane.
Um that that has significance. Um I was
just looking at the numbers here like 20
to 50% reduction
in fatal and serious injury crashes.
Um you know, that that that has become
very popular to handle kind of smaller
volume roads or roads where the it can
handle that. And we had thought about
that, but really this train crossing and
the the the stacking up of cars on both
sides
it just doesn't allow that.
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> Yeah. And
» Yeah. And
your responses to some of these that you
know people are going to be concerned
with, they're all good. They're all
okay. It actually makes me look good
because I've been having these same
responses saying, "Hey, people are going
to be upset about this, but there's
going to be the same amount of people
they're going to say, 'Hey, we've always
wanted a downtown where you could have
more pedestrian room and that kind of
thing.'" So,
you as elected officials, eventually
you'll have some issue brought before
you, but encourage people to come to
these
um
to these community engagement um events
in these open houses cuz that's where
we'll hear
what people have to say.
>> something [snorts] that you probably
» something [snorts] that you probably
should arm yourself and I would have
appreciated having for this meeting is
the number [clears throat] of parking
spots
that are within one block
of
>> I think we may have that.
» I think we may have that.
>> Rich, I think we have that cuz we looked
» Rich, I think we have that cuz we looked
at them.
>> Not the not the bigger one that that
» Not the not the bigger one that that
counts all the way over, you know, two
blocks away or whatever. Um
>> even though it's heart healthy to walk
» even though it's heart healthy to walk
that far. It's just a reality. We need
to know that information. And the other
was
um
I don't know. It'll come to me.
>> Okay. When you were saying that I I was
» Okay. When you were saying that I I was
thinking probably would also be helpful
to have just like the number of total
spaces. So, we're saying we're removing
50
>> That's That's the other half of how
» That's That's the other half of how
>> how many.
» how many.
>> Cuz we're move we're losing 100 on Main
» Cuz we're move we're losing 100 on Main
Street, but how many would we still
have?
>> elsewhere
» elsewhere
>> elsewhere
» elsewhere
>> we have those numbers cuz we went
» we have those numbers cuz we went
through and looked at
parking lots. So, if not, that's
something we can look at.
>> Did On any of these did you look,
» Did On any of these did you look,
especially the when you're removing
parking on one side or both sides, did
you look at integrating a bike path or I
mean a dedicated bike lane? Is that a
» We talked about that.
>> Is it possible, I guess, is what
» Is it possible, I guess, is what
>> Well, it would be possible, of course.
» Well, it would be possible, of course.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> Um
» Um
>> I mean, there's that's additional space.
» I mean, there's that's additional space.
>> It is. And the reason There's multiple
» It is. And the reason There's multiple
reasons that we didn't look at it on
K-15 directly. Um over the years, the
the bicycling group in town definitely
has called out other areas, um other
roads that were off of the main drag
because there's so much vehicle traffic
on K-15 on Main Street that they have
their bike route goes, um you know, to
the east or the west of Main Street. And
so,
if you're looking to make this a more
pedestrian-friendly
area, keeping your bicycles in the other
area, we're just trying to separate out
things and make remembering the safety
aspect, too.
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> Yeah, but And that's a great question.
» Yeah, but And that's a great question.
One of our activities um in these
upcoming open houses is it's called a
design charrette, and we're going to you
know, be able to take a just an example
stretch of of roadway, and it's say it's
it's this wide, and you know, and then
we have little little cutouts where you
can say you can have two lanes that are
12 ft wide, and you can have a bicycle
lane that's 3 ft wide, or you can have a
sidewalk that's this wide, and just you
can kind of play around and see what
fits. You know, do you want to have four
lanes of car traffic? Do you want to
have two lanes of car traffic, a turn
lane, and then a and a bicycle lane on
both sides? Um so, it just it's sort of
it's a tangible way to sort of see we
have set curb lines, and we're we're not
going to move those. Um so, kind of what
can fit what kind of configuration can
fit in between.
>> My last question is whether if there are
» My last question is whether if there are
pros and cons to angle versus parallel
parking safety-wise and otherwise.
>> Mhm. There are lots of studies that show
» Mhm. There are lots of studies that show
that angle parking you have more
accidents when you have angle parking.
The the width that we have downtown plus
the train there makes it difficult to
have angle parking. Keep the number of
lanes you need to um
to be able to move traffic through after
a train. It's It would be difficult to
do that.
And then you look at angle parking. You
have it on some of the side streets, but
that's lower volume on the side streets
um than the traffic on Main Street.
>> I just I was recently in Lawrence and
» I just I was recently in Lawrence and
noticed that on Mass Street they have
all angle parking.
>> Mhm. Yes.
» Mhm. Yes.
>> Two lanes, I think maybe three two and a
» Two lanes, I think maybe three two and a
dedicated turn and then angle parking.
>> Mhm.
» Mhm.
It's a little bit different because they
have a lot bigger town with a lot more
side streets, a lot other places that
are happening, so.
Okay. Um
BNSF to First Street on Main Street.
Same thing. Um concept one would be to
do the bump-outs, right?
>> And this is really a continuation of
» And this is really a continuation of
north
>> It is.
» It is.
>> north of the the tracks.
» north of the the tracks.
>> And then the design the concept design
» And then the design the concept design
2A
same thing.
You have the bump-outs on one side, you
eliminate parking on one side, add your
turn lane. Okay?
And then 2B flips it to the other side.
three
eliminates
all of the parking
leaves the turn lane
and
widens the sidewalk space. Okay?
It's very It's It's just like the piece
to the north. Okay?
>> Mhm.
» Mhm.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
There is a
the slide must have got eliminated, but
there's a we can get it for you that
shows the number of parking spaces for
this section, too. I don't know what
happened there.
Um okay, Washington Road.
The the concept design one, um this is
from Southeast 10th to Southeast 8th.
Um
again, the reason that we are looking at
different areas is because there are
there were accidents and crashes at all
of these intersections. And due to the
sight distances, when you're coming when
you have multiple legs
of an intersection in this instance, you
know, you've got five
as they are today, and you have vehicles
coming up to that intersection. The
sight distance for somebody that's
looking clear back, say you're pulling
up there on Pine Street and you're
looking trying to look north on
Washington, it's difficult to see
um
for multiple reasons. Um Walnut, same
same thing at Southeast 10th and Walnut.
The sight distances, the points of
conflict, and crossing multi-lane
facilities here
are the
several of the reasons that we have
accidents at these locations. So, what
we looked at was
trying to put a cul-de-sac and dead end
one road that had another way out
to eliminate one of the legs of the
intersection.
And we also have an element, remember,
multiple elements. The other is turning
this roadway into a three-lane facility
so that you have the dedicated left turn
lane that would be running
the distance here.
Cuz right now you've got four lanes, but
boy, those are narrow little boogers,
right? Um
and so this turns it into three with the
the third lane for the turning.
There are multiple locations at these
intersections where we are looking at
and giving an option. These are not
recommendations, these are for talking
about. Um
the cul-de-sacs. And you look here at
Pine,
Indian Lane doesn't have another way
out.
So, they still come out, right? Pine,
you can go
back to the north here by the ballpark
and get out, and of course to the south
Pine ties into the other cross streets,
and you could get out.
So, that's concept one.
This kind of gives you an aerial view so
that you
you know what it would look like.
They're just kind of fun when you can
see a
a concept there.
Adding in cul-de-sacs.
Okay?
Okay.
Then Washington Road from 5th to 1st.
Same thing.
Just at Allison we'd be looking at
putting in a cul-de-sac.
And then from
Southeast 3rd north to 1st Street, so
that's the bottom picture here.
Uh we'd be adding in that protected
left-hand turn and still necking down to
only one lane in each direction with
that protected turn.
And in this area, the width would
support those three lanes plus keeping
some parking along the side.
We wouldn't show the elimination where
there is parking today. I believe you'd
be able to keep it. But if this was
selected, we would definitely look at
that in more detail.
Okay.
All right. That's all of this Those were
the city concepts. We can quickly will
will talk to you about the ones that we
are proposing for in the county to be
considered. And these will be available
for people to look at at the open houses
because the open houses are open to
everybody. Um so, the first one um is at
Hesston and Hoover Road.
So, Hesston Road, you know, that's old
81 that goes out of Newton up to
Hesston. And there are multiple
intersections that have skewed
crossings. Um
And they are not just crossing Hesston
Road, but they're also crossing the
railroad that's on the north.
>> Like not at a 90°.
» Like not at a 90°.
>> Right. If they're skewed, they're not at
» Right. If they're skewed, they're not at
a 90°, which is the preferred method for
traffic and transportation safety so
that you can see
um so that you have good sight distance.
And
so if I'm going to if I'm going to
rebutt this and say, "Well, why would we
spend the money to do this?
Why don't people just pull up here to
this intersection and square their
vehicle?" Well,
why don't people just drive the speed
limit? Why don't people do all kinds of
things? But we implement
traffic safety measures
so that we are helping uh to address
those conflicts that occur on the
transportation systems. And so there
would be uh some right-of-way that have
to be uh purchased. And this application
at Hesston Road, there are multiple
crossings that could this could be
addressed um on Hesston Road at all of
those crossroads
to square it up, if you will.
Okay?
Then, the next one is at um it's down by
Sedgwick. This is Ridge Road and 84th
Street. And if you've been on Ridge
Road, you'll recall it, I'm sure. Um
where you're coming up Ridge Road and
then you do There's you do an immediate
um
right turn, a 90° turn, and then a
another one back the other direction.
There's accidents that occur in this
area frequently. Um and that's what
popped it up, plus people commented
about this one in our community
engagement. And so, concept one for this
location, it's the full bore. Look at it
and straighten out the roadway. So,
there would be um right-of-way
acquisition, and then uh the road as it
sits today for those that access and
live along there, this would come in
then at a 90
to the new Ridge Road, so that we don't
create another problem, right?
Um
and
stop signs here at this intersection.
And that takes care of those oddball
90° turns.
Now, there's another option.
Concept design two. This doesn't This
doesn't straighten it all out, but this
puts in um this puts in signage. It's um
it really improves
the signage at this location. It is
called enhanced signage, and we have a
bunch of these chevrons that So, these
little arrowy-looking signs that would
have LED lights on them.
And when you light that stuff up at
night, and we put in a bunch more
signage that helps it be more visible to
the driving public. Um just trying to
light up this area so that people don't
miss it at night, cuz a lot of times
they happen at nighttime.
And so this would be concept design,
too.
And we would have people comment on
these and the different elements of
um
options at the
community engagement.
Questions on those?
Okay.
All right. Kristen?
>> Okay. We'll wrap us up here with the
» Okay. We'll wrap us up here with the
next steps. So, like Suzanne had
mentioned, um we do have several
engagement opportunities coming up.
We've got on the slide here, and I also
brought up a few flyers.
Um if you're interested, so you can see
we're having one with the
the list of the stakeholders, so like
that the stakeholder groups we had
originally. So, we're having one just
for them uh on the 20th, and then we,
like Suzanne mentioned, we're having a
separate meeting with the Connect
Downtown group, uh just with that group,
uh with the downtown business owners on
the 27th. And then we've got some open
houses, um I guess that same week,
taking place uh across really here
within the city of Newton at the Rec
Center, uh the Harvey County Courthouse,
and the at the library. So, those are
coming up. Um we will have some um
like I mentioned that design charrette,
where you can kind of practice,
you know, trying to fit different things
in a set volume. That's just kind of a
fun thing and sort of a learning
opportunity that, you know, we we can't
have everything, that there there are
constraints. And so we'll see some
property lines on there, and um so just
an opportunity for people to sort of
experience trying to do this with
constraints. Um then we'll have some
information about uh all these concepts,
as well as some of the information about
what we've learned previously, and and a
way to kind of confirm we we've heard
we've heard correctly of some of the
main themes coming out of that that
first session or that first engagement.
Uh and then just really wanted to share
these next steps. Um
you know, we are in the study phase,
this very very first step where we're
kind of getting ideas, we're talking
about what are the problems, talking
about some initial concepts. And
so, you know, we expect that to wrap up
this this initiative to wrap up early
next year. Um and then you can see
there's sort of two paths. So, one would
be
that top path is going through this
capital grant application. That's really
been the goal for this project all
along, the goal from this original grant
application from three or four years ago
was to be able to set the city and the
county up should they choose to to apply
for a capital grant through this Safe
Streets for All program. Uh so, that
application would likely come open in
the spring. Um and then probably be
another year uh to have engineering and
then probably another year plus for
construction. So, we're this is a long
timeline. So, just want to reassure
everyone this nothing's going to happen
tomorrow.
Um and then also kind of that second
tier is to be able to go through the the
city's budget process and should the
city decide to implement some of these
countermeasures or some of the low-cost
things,
that that would be another avenue for
for this to move forward.
That's it. Uh we are happy to answer any
questions. I know we've talked through
some in between in in during the
presentation, but happy to answer any
that you might have.
>> So, tell us how that grant application
» So, tell us how that grant application
works.
After all the studies are done and maybe
picking out some of the concepts to
pursue and putting a price on them and
all that. Then
then do you go to the federal government
and say, "Okay, this is going to cost,
let's just say $7 million." And And is
it a is it a 90/10 split? Is it an 80-20
split? What
>> Good question.
» Good question.
>> look like?
» look like?
>> It's an 80-20 split. So, it's um that's
» It's an 80-20 split. So, it's um that's
pretty common with federal grants. Here
in Kansas, we're very fortunate because
the state has allocated uh some of their
ARPA money. Uh well, I think they
switched out their ARPA money and
anyways made a pot of money available
they call Build Kansas. And they will
offer to
provide 15%
of that 20% match requirement. Uh and
so, that's a really great opportunity. I
think we're the only state in the whole
country that that has that available.
Otherwise, you know, the individual city
would have to come up with the whole
20%.
>> that means we'd be responsible for the
» that means we'd be responsible for the
5%.
>> Correct.
» Correct.
>> Whatever that Yeah.
» Whatever that Yeah.
>> Uh and I think that
» Uh and I think that
not just the [clears throat]
SS4A type funds could you utilize your
plan.
Um there's other grants that are
available that you could say, "Hey,
look, we've had" cuz this is this is an
engineering study, if you will. And you
can say, "Hey, this is what this study
came up with." And not just that grant
application, but then the city could
look at other other grants that might be
available for some of the the pieces of
the project as well.
And those those matches may be
different.
>> Mhm.
» Any other questions?
» Do
And I thought
I may be confusing something. I thought
there was also
an idea of
SS4A and traffic signals. Is that not a
Is that something separate?
>> Depending on Main Street.
» Depending on Main Street.
>> No, to depending on the project that we
» No, to depending on the project that we
did, we could uh look at doing that.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> That's one thing I did neglect to
» That's one thing I did neglect to
mention in those concepts. So, those
Main Street concepts
>> It would would include some of the
» It would would include some of the
>> Um we would suggest
» Um we would suggest
if you only chose the elements of the
bulb outs,
we would request funding for additional
signals.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> It might not qualify for just bulb outs,
» It might not qualify for just bulb outs,
but if you did some of the others, it
definitely would because you have to
change up your protected laps and
everything. Um
but I think we could probably justify
that on any of those. So, along with
those physical
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> um
» um
things on the roadway itself, we would
be looking at signals as a part of that.
>> Okay.
So, then is it that
after going through
all the next sessions with the public
and
is it that whatever that comes back to
are the ones that you're going to pursue
to get
put the put all the costs together to
what that's going to cost? In other
words, not every one of these ideas is
going to come with somebody putting a
price tag on it.
>> Right.
» Right.
>> Only the ones that
» Only the ones that
this whole community decides might be
feasible.
>> Yeah, well, we will include cost
» Yeah, well, we will include cost
estimates, at least planning level cost
estimates for these five concepts. So,
whatever the five end up being, I mean,
we've got our five locations pretty much
locked down, but the option within each
five locations is not. So, that's kind
of the purpose of this next round is
we'll kind of hear from the public, take
it for kind of final vetting with the
with the city and the the staff team,
um and then bring it back for final
adoption. But, all whatever those five
final concepts will be, we'll have
planning level cost estimates. And then,
of course, as it moves forward, those
will continue to be refined as more
information is known.
» Awesome.
Okay. Any other questions?
>> Thanks.
» Thanks.
>> Okay. I guess probably
» Okay. I guess probably
>> The only last thing is we'll be back
» The only last thing is we'll be back
maybe later
later this year with uh a draft plan. Is
that
>> Yeah, you will need to adopt a plan. So,
» Yeah, you will need to adopt a plan. So,
a plan will be brought to you by staff
for you to adopt that then gets turned
in as the final.
And it will have concepts in it.
>> And can no action be a plan selected?
» And can no action be a plan selected?
>> What do you mean no action? Like not
» What do you mean no action? Like not
adopting it or not having concepts or
>> Not adopting. Say we choose not to do
» Not adopting. Say we choose not to do
anything in that area.
>> Of the
» Of the
>> We're not obligated to take up any of
» We're not obligated to take up any of
the plans.
>> Correct. No, you're approving a plan,
» Correct. No, you're approving a plan,
not a construction project. Correct.
Yeah.
Correct.
>> So, it's more of receiving a plan more
» So, it's more of receiving a plan more
so than than actually approving for
action.
>> They want them to approve it. That's
» They want them to approve it. That's
That's my understanding from the grant
dollars. They want you to This is our
our transportation plan, but you don't
have to say in it what year you're going
to accomplish these things.
Um you're going to work towards things.
And
I think that's simple enough to do.
Especially because I think in your minds
you're thinking about all these
capital things. There's going to be
countermeasures throughout. Um you know,
if
I would
>> We We could go benign and just adopt all
» We We could go benign and just adopt all
the countermeasures as part of our plan
with nothing that has a capital
>> Yeah. to it. But then you wouldn't need
» Yeah. to it. But then you wouldn't need
to apply for a grant. So, yeah. But
>> But we would be But we would be
» But we would be But we would be
fulfilling the obligation of the grant
that we received to have the study done.
>> Yes, absolutely.
» Yes, absolutely.
I don't know why somebody why you and
the county wouldn't approve
in your plan one of the things that you
want to do moving forward is to promote
use of seatbelts.
>> Right.
» Right.
>> And how much that decreases uh
» And how much that decreases uh
fatalities and severe accidents. I mean,
just putting out some uh
you know, public information about that.
That would be something that should be
in your plan.
>> Mhm.
» Mhm.
Cool.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> All right. Thank you.